Long Ball Sally

The record-breaking barrage of home runs has major leaguers climbing the fences

SPORTS

BENCH MARK Yankee Stadium in New York

CHRISTOPHER PASATIERI/GETTY; ADAM HUNGER/GETTY

THIS PAST SUMMER SAW NO shortfall of long balls: Major league hitters walloped 6,105 round-trippers, eclipsing the single-season record by nearly 10 percent. That barrage of bombastic blasts put Philadelphia Phillies rookie Rhys Hoskins at a disadvantage. Hoskins swatted 18 home runs in his first 34 games, the quickest to that total in major league history. If this were any other year, that would be news, but in 2017 Hoskins’s feat is little more than a Philadelphia story.